The Cards from the Smoke are a deck of cards beautifully illustrated with the imagery from Cthulhu Britannica, which you can use to several different ends in your Call of Cthulhu games, from handling chases in a visual, exciting way, to an alternative way to run an investigation.

The simplest way to use The Cards from the Smoke is as a source of inspiration for writing a scenario – especially when you need to come up with one on the fly. Each of the cards is beautifully illustrated, complete with an evocative quote, so just rifling through the deck is bound to get the ideas flowing. Or you can shuffle the deck together and draw a handful of cards and think up a scenario based on what you draw, letting the card text and art inspire you. And, for good measure, many of the cards point you at pages in the Cthulhu Britannica: London boxed set where you’ll find even more ideas.

But, the primary use for the cards is to quickly, evocatively and illustratively handle Chases and Investigations in the game. Before the session begins, the Keeper can build a Chase or Investigation deck from the same set of cards, either shuffling all the relevant cards together or selecting specific cards to customise it to his own game’s needs.

The Chase deck is used alongside the rules for chases found in Call of Cthulhu 7th edition – the cards are dealt out to form a ‘track’ for the chase, counters used to mark where the pursuer and his quarry are. As the chase progresses, more cards are dealt out – sometimes revealing a location to flee to, other times revealing a threat or a barrier that must be overcome to escape!

As well as this method, we’ve also written a set of variant rules to resolve a chase in a more narrative manner, flipping cards over one by one, describing what happens with each until either a Threat card is turned over, in which case the pursuer catches his quarry; or until the Escape! card is revealed, in which case the quarry gets away.

The Investigation deck uses a new set of rules written especially for The Cards in the Smoke – the cards are dealt out into several different piles, each representing a different thread or avenue of investigation. A Clue card is shuffled into each of the piles – as players investigate the mystery, cards are turned over in turn, representing places to explore and problems to solve. When a Clue card is found, that aspect of the investigation has been resolved – once a certain number of Clue cards have been found, the investigators have solved the mystery and the climax beckons. The Investigation deck is a great way to make up an investigation on the fly, or to handle the search for clues in a more abstract manner.

The Cards from the Smoke really add something to your games of Call of Cthulhu, really bringing Mythos London to life before the players' eyes! The Cards from the Smoke will be available to pre-order in the near future - keep an eye on the website for more information.